Public Opinion Series

Public Opinion by Walter Lippmann, 1921, Excerpts

Social Sets

The size of a man’s income has considerable effect on his access to the world beyond the neighborhood. With money he can overcome obstacles of communication, he can travel, buy books and periodicals. The income of the individual and the income of the community determine the amount of communication that is possible. Differences of income make a profound difference in contact and opportunity.

The social set is not a mere economic class, but something which more nearly resembles a biological clan. Each social set has a fairly clear picture of its relative position in the hierarchy of social sets. Between sets at the same level, association is easy, individuals are quickly accepted, and hospitality is normal and unembarrassed. But in contact between sets that are “higher” or “lower,” there is always a reciprocal hesitation, a faint malaise, and a consciousness of difference.

The highest social set consists of those who embody the leadership of the Great Society. In this Highest Society the big decisions of war and peace, of social strategy and the ultimate distribution of political power, are intimate experiences within a circle of personal acquaintances.

The social superior is likely to be imitated by the social inferior, the holder of power is imitated by subordinates, the more successful by the less successful, the rich by the poor, the city by the country. But imitation does not stop at frontiers. The powerful, socially superior, successful, rich, urban social set is fundamentally international throughout the western hemisphere, and in many ways London is its center. It counts among its membership the most influential people in the world, containing as it does the diplomatic set, high finance, the upper circles of the army and the navy, some princes of the church, a few great newspaper proprietors, their wives and mothers and daughters who wield the scepter of invitation. It is at once a great circle of talk and a real social set. But its importance comes from the fact that here the distinction between public and private affairs practically disappears. 

The Organization

The priest, the lord of the manor, the captains and the kings, the party leaders, the merchant, the boss, however these men are chosen, whether by birth, inheritance, conquest or election, they and their organized following administer human affairs. In American politics we call it a machine, or “the organization.”

There are a number of important distinctions between the members of the machine and the rank and file. The leaders, the steering committee and the inner circle, are in direct contact with their environment. There are particular men they hope to see elected, particular balance sheets they wish to see improved, concrete objectives that must be attained. They decide. They give orders. They bargain.

But the necessary simplicity of any mass decision is a very important fact in view of the inevitable complexity of the world in which those decisions operate. The action of the mass depends upon the quality of the choices presented. The Many can elect after the Few have nominated